Mumbai:
India has awaited enough for a government at the centre which could finally make the dream of “EK VIDHAN, EK PRADHAN & EK NISHAAN”, come true. But the basic idea of one nation gets repeatedly put to test when states get into disputes over trivial issues.
The Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue is nothing new for the people of the two states, but the dispute is being raked up at a stage when the country is trying to leap forward in terms of economy, technology and the way the world perceives the idea of INDIA.
Historically, Bharatvarsha has seen disputes between kingdoms and great people, time and again have worked towards unifying the country. First such effort that is well documented, was by Acharya Chanakya. He successfully brought all the kings of Bharat together and was thus able to deal with external invasions. People like Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel dedicated their lives towards keeping India united. All their efforts seem so very ignored when the Nation gets into a mode of Inter-state disputes.
Formation of states based on any single identity such a Language/Caste/Community or Religion is bound to create trouble. States should rather be formed on the basis of ease of administration and public welfare. The Linguistic approach towards forming states, almost came as a compulsion because of regional activists.
One such activist who stands out in the list is Potti Shreeramalu. He fasted unto death which led to the formation of Andhra Pradesh, the first state to be formed on the basis of language. Unfortunately, it further got divided recently. The state again saw protests causing loss of lives and public property before and after getting bifurcated.
Any border area for that matter, will have people speaking both languages, they share common food habits, festivals and also have family relations.
Indian states need to learn from history that India was time and again invaded and ruled by invaders, enslaving the natives, because of internal disputes amongst its rulers. Our State heads need to think beyond linguistic fanaticism and collaborate with each other for the betterment of the nation. The Centre needs to play a decisive and fair role in border disputes like the sharing of river water between Goa-Karnataka and Karnataka-Tamil Nadu. If Maharashtra stakes a Claim on Belgaum citing the non-existent insecurity of Marathi speaking population, then what happens to the Kannada speaking crowd of the city if it happens to be a part of Maharashtra?
The ordinary people of any state in India have a natural bond with the people of other states. A Bengali would love to visit the Somnath and a Gujrati craves to visit Puri. A Kashmiri finds Rameshwaram as a preferred pilgrimage and a Tamilian looks forward to visit Kedarnath.
An ideal situation would be when states function as Administrative entities and avoid disputes. State heads need to think beyond personal gains in electoral politics. Now is the time when it is more than necessary that we avoid interstate disputes and work towards India becoming a Super power.
By Raghav Kulkarni, Mumbai (an author is computer engineer by profession)
